Ecological Literacy - A Foundation for Sustainability

Ecological Literacy A Foundation for Sustainability

www.eco-labs.org

The Visual Communication of Ecological Literacy Jody Joanna Boehnert - MPhil - School of Architecture and Design

Why? Context

Levels of Learning & Engagement

Presently humanity’s ecological footprint exceeds its regenerative capacity by 30%. This global overshoot is growing and ecosystems are being run down as wastes (including greenhouse gases) accumulate in the air, land, and water. Climate change, resource depletion, pollution, loss of biodiversity, and other systemic environmental problems threaten to destroy the natural support systems on which we depend.

1st: Education ABOUT Sustainability Content and/or skills emphasis. Easily accommodated into existing system. Learning ABOUT change.

ACCOMMODATIVE RESPONSE - maintenance.

2nd: Education FOR Sustainability

What? Systems, Networks, Values

Additional values emphasis. Greening of institutions.

Deeper questioning and reform of purpose, policy and practice.

Learning FOR change. REFORMATIVE RESPONSE - adaptive.

Problems cannot be understood in isolation but must be seen as interconnected and interdependent. We must learn to engage with complexity and think in terms of systems to address current ecological, social and economic problems. Images can be useful tools to help with this learning process.

3rd: SUSTAINABLE Education Capacity building and action emphasis.

Experiential curriculum. Institutions as learning communities.

Learning AS change. TRANSFORMATIVE RESPONSE - enactment.

How? Transformational Learning The value / action gap permeates education for sustainability and is obvious in environmental coverage in the media. The gap between our ideas about what we value and what we are actually doing to address the problem is the notorious value / action gap. This project uses transformational learning to move from values to action. This approach is integrated into cycles of action research and practice based design work.

Stephen Sterling, 2009

ECOLOGICAL

ECONOMIC

GOOD DESIGN

Actions Ideas / Theories

SOCIAL

Norms / Assumptions Beliefs / Values Paradigm / Worldview Metaphysics / Cosmology

Transformational Learning

Values, Knowledge, Skills A: SEEING (Perception ) An expanded ethical sensibility or consciousness

B: KNOWING (Conception) Ecological literacy - the understanding of the principles of organization that ecosystems have evolved to sustain the web of life - is the first step on the road to sustainability. The second step is the move towards ecodesign. We need to apply our ecological knowledge to the fundamental redesign of our technologies and social institutions, so as to bridge the current gap between human design and the ecological sustainable systems of nature.

Fritjof Capra, 2003

A critical understanding of pattern, consequence and connectivity

C: DOING (Action) The ability to design and act relationally, integratively and wisely.

Stephen Sterling, 2009

The world is a complex, interconnected, finite, ecological-socialpsychological-economic system. We treat it as if it were not, as if it were divisible, separable, simple, and infinite. Our persistent, intractable, global problems arise directly from this mismatch.

Donella Meadows, 1982

References Fritjof Capra. The Hidden Connections. London: Flamingo. 2003 Stephen Sterling. Whole Systems Thinking as a Basis for Paradigm Change in Education. University of Bath. 2003 Stephen Sterling. Transformational Learning. Researching Transformational Learning. University of Gloucestershire. 2009

j.j.boehnert@brighton.ac.uk | jody@eco-labs.org This poster can be downloaded on this website:

www.eco-labs.org

ECOLOGICAL

SOCIAL

ECONOMIC

We have to learn to see the world anew.

Einstein

The world is a complex, interconnected, finite, ecological-social-psychological-economic system.

We treat it as if it were not, as if it were divisible, separable, simple, and infinite. Our persistent, intractable, global problems arise directly from this mismatch.

Donella Meadows, 1982

We live in a profoundly relational world, but our perceptual, intellectual and learning tools are inadequate to properly see and appreciate this reality, and to develop an appropriate ‘systemic wisdom’.

Stephen Sterling, 2009

Content 1. Context 2. Basic concept 3. Key ideas 4. History 5. Development 6. Practice 7. Education

The volume of education has increased and continues to increase, yet so do pollution, exhaustion of resources, and the dangers of ecological catastrophe. If still more education is to save us, it would have to be education of a different kind: education that takes us into the depth of things.

Schumacher, 1974

1. Context

Springer-Verlag. The New Scientist.

Living Planet Report 2008. WWF

Living Planet Report 2006. WWF

Earth’s Natural Wealth: an Audit. The New Scientist

The Oil Age. Information design by Dave Menninger. 2006

Global production of oil and gas

50 billion barrels Production, Gboe/a

Non-con Gas

40

Gas NGLs Polar Oil

30

Deep Water Heavy

20

Regular

10 0

1930

1950

1970

1990

2010

2030

2050

Source: ASPO

The Oil Crunch

Securing the UK’s energy future First report of the UK Industry Taskforce on Peak Oil & Energy Security (ITPOES)

The Oil Crunch.

The UK Industry Taskforce on Peak Oil and Energy Security.

2. Concept ECOLOGICAL

ECONOMIC

SOCIAL

The interlocking global crises of unsustainability requires a far more fundamental social learning and educational response than environmental education, as a largely marginalized and contained body of thought and practice, has yet been able to effect.

Sterling, 2005

The development of ecological understanding is not simply another subject to be learnt but a fundamental change in the way we see the world.

John Lyle, 1994

Ecological Literacy postmodern ecological worldview shift from mechanistic metaphor and paradigm towards an ecological metaphor and paradigm

The first step in our endeavor to build sustainable communities must be to become ‘ecologically literate’, i.e. to understand of the principles of organization, common to all living systems, that ecosystems have evolved to sustain the web of life‌

Fritjof

Capra, 2002

This systemic understanding of life allows us to formulate a set of principles of organization that may be identified as the basic principles of ecology and used as guidelines for building sustainable human communities...

We need to apply our ecological knowledge to the fundamental redesign of our technologies and social institutions, so as to bridge the current gap between human design and the ecological sustainable systems of nature.

Fritjof Capra, 2002

3. Key Ideas SYSTEMS thinking asserts that valid knowledge and meaningful understanding comes from building up whole pictures of phenomenon, not by breaking them into parts.

•

shift thinking from objects to processes

•

shift thinking about relationships from hierarchies to networks

WHOLE SYSTEMS THINKING = systemism + ecologism = systems thinking + ecological thought • extension of perception • connection in conceptual thinking • integration of planning and action

WHOLE SYSTEMS THINKING Not all systems thinking is ecological.

Not all ecological thinking is aware of systems thinking.

Stephen Sterling

PARADIGM Thomas Kuhn The Structure of Scientific Revolutions, 1962

A basic way of perceiving, thinking, valuing and doing associated with a particular vision of reality.

Harman, 1988

PARADIGM A constellation of concepts, values, perceptions, and practices shared by a community, which forms a particuliar vision of reality that is the basis of the whole the community organizes itself.

Capra, 1986

Implicit in the notion of paradigm is the relative unawareness of deep assumptions.

Paradigms have a normative aspect – they tell people what is important, legitimate and reasonable.

Patton, 1990

Paradigms are the lens through which we look a the world and it therefore determines what we perceive. A paradigm is a set of beliefs or assumptions we make about the world, normally beneath the level of awareness and therefore mostly never questioned.

Stacey, 1996

THREE COMPONENTS OF A PARADIGM ethos - belief, imaginal, dimension - epistemology eidos - dimension of ideas / concepts - ontology praxis - reflective intention and action - methodology

Stephen Sterling

Actions Ideas / Theories Norms / Assumptions Beliefs / Values Paradigm / Worldview Metaphysics / Cosmology

Transformational Learning

Values, Knowledge, Skills A: SEEING (Perception ) An expanded ethical sensibility or consciousness

B: KNOWING (Conception) A critical understanding of pattern, consequence and connectivity

C: DOING (Actio n) The ability to design and act relationally, integratively and wisely.

Stephen Sterling, 2009

EPISTEMOLOGY The study of the nature of knowledge, its origins, structure and validity.

- ‘how we know’ - epistemic learning = transformative learning

Challenge of unsustainability requires a deep learning response, which may be termed transformative or epistemic learning

4. History Gregory Bateson suggested we suffer from ‘a fundamental epistemological error’ in his classic text Steps to an Ecology of Mind (1972).

Scientific revolution (17th century) Radical change in epistemological position / paradigm A: Shift away from Medieval Christianity - end of the idea of a sacred world B: Copernicus, Galileo & Issac Newton - geocentric view of the world displaced by astronomy

C: Scientific method: - Francis Bacon & Rene Descartes - empiricism - reductive thinking - dualism: subject & object mind & body, people & nature

- the whole was no more than the sum of the parts - mechanical world- world as a machine metaphor - facts and values are unrelated - vision of the material world as a great machine.

- reductionism tries to gain understanding of a phenomenon by breaking it into the component parts. This works for study of computers and cars but not natural systems.

Reductionist science is...at the root of the growing ecological crisis, because it entails a transformation of nature such that the processes, regularities and regenerative capacity of nature are destroyed.

Vandana Shiva, 1988

The scientific revolution (mechanistic cosmology, determinist, materialist, objectivist, positivist, reductivist, dualist).... ‘spawned a mutually informing nexus of ideas, assumptions, and methodologies that become the expressions of the modern cultural paradigm… all were, and largely still are in perhaps more sophisticated forms – part of the architecture of the modernist paradigm and the myth of progress. The mutually reinforcing nature of these aspects of the paradigm discourages awareness and questioning of the paradigm itself, because reality and norms are defined and constantly reiterated (not least by the media)’.

Sterling, 2005

mechanistic, dualistic, rationalist, objectivist, and reductivist

Clash of paradigms Dominant worldview as flawed, dysfunctional

Mechanism

Ecological

Objectivist

Participative

Reductionist, dualistic Â

Holistic, integrative

Reductive

Systemic Stephen Sterling, 2009

Crises of Perception value driven wholistic

systemic empirical objective

reductionist mechanical

transdisciplinary perception cognition

ecological participatory

Seeing differently

CRISIS OF PERCEPTION Put simply, the case against the dominant Western worldview is that it is no longer constitutes an adequate model of reality particularly ecological reality. The map is wrong, and moreover, we commonly confuse the map (worldview) for the territory (reality).

Sterling, 1993

5. Development 70s - Meadows, Bateson 80s - Capra, Harman, Clark 90s - Orr, Laszlo, Hawkins, Kortean, Berman+ 00s - Sterling, 100s+

loss

d

hange ec

es

ertificati

on

llution po

fish de an

tion

oce

rcity ca

ple

water s

bio-dive ty rsi

of

estructi td

clima t

rainfores

on

om

e l essn es

h

peak oil

crime

ple

re

s

urce de so

tion

inflatio a

n

m

r

pover t y

de

a ln

u t r i t i on

n a t i on

dep r ess ion

ession ec

l ie

ob es

bt

ity

ECOLOGICAL

ECONOMIC

GOOD DESIGN

SOCIAL

Problems as symptoms of systemic failure, rather than random errors requiring fixes.

Actions Ideas/theories Norms/assumptions Beliefs/values Paradigm/worldview Metaphysics/cosmology Stephen Sterling on transition from beliefs to actions: ‘Levels of Knowing’, 2009

What we already ‘know’ frames what we see, and what we see frames what we understand.

The things we make are an extension of the manner in which we think.

6. Practice

footprinting

wicked problems

lifecyle analysis

tipping points

cradle to cradle

resilience

One Planet Living

technology lock-in

biomimicry

carrying capacity

embodied energy

dematerialisation

rebound effect

ecosystem services

energy descent

externality costs

general systems theory ecological literacy

Values lead to what we design & designers subconsiously embed values in to what we make.

But our value system presently does not acknowledge our dependence on ecological support systems.

Some lessons from ecological systems for design of human systems.

1. Diversity 2. Feedbacks 3. Resilience 4. Non-linear thresholds 5. Emergence

7. Education How? Transformational Learning The value / action gap permeates education for sustainability and is obvious in environmental coverage in the media. The gap between our ideas about what we value and what we are actually doing to address the problem is the notorious value / action gap. This project uses transformational learning to move from values to action. This approach is integrated into cycles of action research and practice based design work.

Levels of Learning & Engagement 1st: Education ABOUT Sustainability Content and/or skills emphasis. Easily accommodated into existing system. Learning ABOUT change.

ACCOMMODATIVE RESPONSE - maintenance.

2nd: Education FOR Sustainability Additional values emphasis. Greening of institutions.

Deeper questioning and reform of purpose, policy and practice.

Learning FOR change. REFORMATIVE RESPONSE - adaptive.

3rd: SUSTAINABLE Education Capacity building and action emphasis.

Experiential curriculum. Institutions as learning communities.

Learning AS change. TRANSFORMATIVE RESPONSE - enactment.

Stephen Sterling, 2009

Actions Ideas / Theories Norms / Assumptions Beliefs / Values Paradigm / Worldview Metaphysics / Cosmology

Transformational Learning

Values, Knowledge, Skills A: SEEING (Perc eption ) An expanded ethical sensibility or consciousness

B: KNOWING (Conception) A critical understanding of pattern, consequence and connectivity

C: DOING (Actio n) The ability to design and act relationally, integratively and wisely.

Stephen Sterling, 2009

A sufficient and whole learning response at personal, organisational and social levels requires shifts in the three interrelated areas of human knowing and experience: perception (Seeing – affective dimension) conception (Knowing – cognitive dimension) action (Doing – intentional dimension)

Stephen Sterling, 2009

10 ASSUMPTIONS OF REDUCTIONIST THINKING 1 ‘To every problem, there’s a solution’ 2 ‘We can understand something by breaking it down into its component parts’ 3 ‘The whole (of something) is no more than the sum of its parts’ 4 ‘Most processes are linear’ 5 ‘Most issues and events are can be understood by examining the components.

6 ‘It is acceptable to draw your circle of attention or concern quite tightly, as in ”that’s not my concern’ 7 ‘We can define or value something by distinguishing it from what it is not, or from its opposite’ 8 ‘Objectivity is both possible and necessary to understand issues‘ 9 ‘We can understand things best through a rational response. Any other approach is irrational’ 10 ‘If we know what the state of something is now, we can usually predict future outcomes’ Stephen Sterling 2009

10 ASSUMPTIONS OF REDUCTIONIST THINKING problem-solving analysis reductionism cause-effect atomism narrow boundaries objectivism dualism rationalism determinism 1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

8.

9.

10.

10 ASSUMPTIONS OF LINKING THINKING 1 As some ‘solutions’ just produce more problems, we need to develop ‘solutions that generate further solutions’.

2 We often need to look at the whole, and at the larger context.

3 Complex systems show emergent properties; i.e. qualities that emerge from the interaction of the parts e.g. health in a human body.

4 We need to attempt to look at multiple causes, ‘knock-on’ effects, and feedback loops involved in change.

5 Most issues/events can only be understood in relation to other issues/events or contexts.

6 Complexity means that we need to expand our view of the world and be more aware of our boundaries of concern.

7 We need to see so-called ‘opposites’ in relationship rather than in opposition eg. ecology and economy, people and nature, facts and values.

8 Total objectivity is impossible. Better to recognise how our subjective self is involved in perception and interpretation of the world.

9 Intellect needs to be balanced with intuition, and rationality with non-rational ways of knowing.

10 In most human and most natural systems it is impossible to predict outcomes. We need to be more flexible, accept uncertainty, and not try to control everything but participate in and learn from change.

Stephen Sterling 2009

An emerging ecological (relational/systemic) paradigm presents a sane and hopeful evolutionary pathway, necessary to the conditions we now face, with the power to transcend the disintegrative effects of modernism and the disempowering relativism of deconstructive postmodernism.

Stephen Sterling, 2009

To simplify, two ways of thinking...

Problem-solving Analysis Reductionism Closed cause-effect Atomism/segregative Narrow boundaries Objectivism Dualism Rationalism Determinism

Reframing /alleviation Synthesis Holism Multiple influences Integrative Extension of boundaries Critical subjectivity Pluralism / duality Rational / non-rational Uncertainty, ambiguity

Key cultural worldviews Metaphor

Mechanism

Ecology/living systems

Epistemology

Objectivist

Participative

Ontology

Reductionist, dualistic Â

Holistic, integrative

Methodology

Reductive

Systemic

Educational paradigm Educational paradigm

Positivist

Interpretivist; Constructivist

Critical; radical

Poststructural

Participative

Role of educator

Instruction

Facilitation

Critical pedagogy transformative

Deconstruction

Mediation, mentoring/ ‘invitational’

Curriculum

Prescribed

Constructivist;

Issues based

Pluralist

Indicative, emergent

Pedagogy

Delivery

Learner centered Transactional

Critical pedagogy

Deconstructive

Co-inquiry

Cultural worldview/metaphor Mechanistic..............modernist…………….Postmodern….........Ecological…

Our machines, our value systems, our educational systems will all have to be informed by (the) switch, from the machine age when we tried to design schools to be like factories, to an ecological age, when we want to design schools, and families and social institutions in terms of maintaining the quality of life not just for our species, but for the whole planet.

Mary Catherine Bateson, 1997

Last thoughts...

‘It is better to do the right thing wrongly, than the wrong thing better and better…’ social inequity & alienation

Russell Ackoff

We can’t solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them.

Albert Einstein

ECOLOGICAL

ECONOMIC

SOCIAL

www.eco-labs.org http://teach-in.ning.com Further Reading: Capra, Fritjof. 2002. The Hidden Connections. London: Flamingo, 2003.

Orr, David. Ecological Literacy. Albany: State of New York Press, 1992.

Stephen Sterling. Whole Systems Thinking as a Basis for Paradigm Change in Education. University of Bath. 2003